Learning to live with synanthropic bats: Practices of tolerance and care in domestic space (original) (raw)
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ANTHROZOÖS, 2022
ABSTRACT This paper explores practices of citizen bat conservation in the city through the lens of becoming-with animal. It draws on insights gained from practices related to bat conservation efforts through interviews and participant observation with bat advocates in the city of Groningen, Netherlands. We show how becoming-with happens and why it is significant to humans and bats. We argue that becoming-with is dynamic and contingent on the elements present in different human–bat networks, which comprise bodies, technologies, practices, forms of knowledge, and urban spaces and places and result in varied relations that bats and bat conservationists enter into. Also, we observed the various outcomes of local bat conservation efforts. We argue that each of these ways of becoming-with must be considered valid, and is needed, in the big picture of bat conservation efforts in the city.
Bats and Buildings: The Conservation of Synanthropic Bats
Humans have shared buildings with bats for thousands of years, probably as early as first humans built primitive huts. Indeed, many bat species can be defined as synanthropic, i.e., they have a strong ecological association with humans. Bats have been observed using buildings as roosting and foraging sites, temporary shelters, for reproduction and hibernation. A synanthropic lifestyle may result in direct fitness benefits owing to energetic advantages in warmer roosts, which may ultimately lead to more rapid gestation and faster development of juveniles, or by being less exposed to natural predators in urban environments. All these benefits may allow bats to use buildings as stepping stones to exploit habitats otherwise devoid of roosting structures and may even lead to the expansion of geographic ranges. Yet, the coexistence with humans also comes with some risks. Bats may be exposed to chemical pollutants, particularly preservation chemicals used on lumber or during pest control measures. Bats may also be at risk of direct persecution or they may die accidently if trapped within buildings. In general, eviction of bats from buildings should follow the general rule of avoidance–mitigation–compensation. When considering conservation measures for synanthropic bats, it is most important to assess the role of the building for different life stages of bats. Construction work at buildings should be conducted in a manner that minimizes disturbance of bats. Artificial roosts can replace lost roosts, yet bats will often not accept alternative roosts. Demographic changes in human populations may lead to the abandonment of buildings, for example, in rural areas and to increased conflicts in urban areas when old buildings are replaced by new buildings or when previously unoccupied space in buildings is renovated. We advocate maintenance and enhancement of roosts for synanthropic bats, in addition to outreach and education campaigns, to improve the tolerance of humans for synanthropic bats.
Birds, bees and bats: Exploring possibilities for cohabitation in the more-than-human city
Proceedings of DRS, 2022
Urbanization pressures are creating conditions for greater urban density. However, cities are home for both humans and a diversity of nonhuman natures, where heightened proximity between species can cause friction and conflict. This paper explores possibilities for convivial multispecies cohabitation in more-than-human cities. It grounds more-thanhuman theory through the application of three case studies-birds, bees and bats-based in the city of Trondheim, Norway. Drawing on three related studies, these creatures help illuminate what kind of spaces, needs and considerations are required beyond a human-centric focus in the urban environment. Issues to consider include disease, insecure land access and unpredictable and complex feedback loops, while benefits from nonhuman natures include sources of wellbeing, food and wonder. Relevant concepts include agency, assemblage, and urban acupuncture. The paper also develops the concept of 'multispecies productivism' and offers a suite of suggestions for design interventions.
The Conservation of Synanthropic Bats
Humans have shared buildings with bats for thousands of years, probably as early as first humans built primitive huts. Indeed, many bat species can be defined as synanthropic, i.e., they have a strong ecological association with humans. Bats have been observed using buildings as roosting and foraging sites, temporary shelters, for reproduction and hibernation. A synanthropic lifestyle may result in direct fitness benefits owing to energetic advantages in warmer roosts, which may ultimately lead to more rapid gestation and faster development of juveniles, or by being less exposed to natural predators in urban environments. All
Bats, People, and Buildings Issues and Opportunities
General Technical Report, 2019
Bats are amazing animals. They are among the best flyers of the natural world and are able to maneuver in the dark to intersect small flying insects. Bats consume large quantities of insects, and this helps hold down the populations of pests that could otherwise destroy agricultural crops and forests. Bats also pollinate many species of plants that provide us with food and medicine. Most people in the United States view bats as pests, and this view has undoubtedly contributed to precipitous declines for some species. However, in much of Europe, bats are protected and measures are taken to incorporate bat housing into buildings and bat-friendly habitat into neighborhoods. Many bat species in the United States also take advantage of human structures. With good design, bat housing could be incorporated into buildings and other structures and could provide support for U.S. bat populations. This publication provides an overview of resources available to help people who want to support bats with their existing structures and/or new building projects.
2017
Humanised landscapes are causing population declines and even extinctions of wildlife, whereas a limited number of species are adapting to the new niches and resources within these modified habitats. Synanthropy is widespread among many vertebrates and often causes co-habitation conflicts between humans and wildlife species. Bats often roost in anthropogenic structures, and especially in the tropics, mitigation of human-bat conflicts arising from co-habitation is hampered by a paucity of research focusing on roost preferences. We assessed roost selection by bats in villages around Ranomafana National Park, eastern Madagascar. Ten villages were surveyed, with bats occupying 21 of the 180 evaluated buildings. Of those, 17 were public buildings harbouring large molossid colonies. Although beneficial ecosystem services provided by bats are well-known, several cases of colony eviction were noted, mostly due to unwanted co-habitation. Bat preference was driven by the type of building, its height and a lack of fire use by the inhabitants. Colonies were mainly found under metal sheets within large empty chambers, whereas only isolated bats were detected in the roofs of traditional cabins. Temperatures up to 50º C were recorded inside a roost, representing one of the highest temperatures recorded for an African maternity roost. Molossidae bats appear to have found a suitable alternative to their native roosts in hollow, old and tall trees in pristine forests, which are becoming rare in Madagascar. This suggests that human-bat interactions in Madagascar will likely increase alongside rural development and the loss of primary forest habitats. Shifting to modern construction methods while combining traditional techniques with proper roof sealing could prevent the establishment of bat colonies in undesired locations, whereas co-habitation conflicts could alternatively be minimised by reducing direct interaction with humans. In light of our results, we urge caution with bat evictions, and greater attention when introducing modern building practices, often supported by foreign initiatives, to poor rural communities in developing countries.
Conflict can arise when bats roost in human dwellings and householders are affected adversely by their presence. In the United Kingdom, the exclusion of bats from roosts can be licensed under exceptional circumstances to alleviate conflict, but the fate of excluded bats and the impact on their survival and reproduction is not well understood. Using radiotracking, we investigated the effects of exclusion on the soprano pipistrelle Pipistrellus pygmaeus, a species that commonly roosts in buildings in Europe. Exclusions were performed under licence at five roosts in England in spring, when females were in the early stages of pregnancy. Following exclusion, all bats found alternative roosts and colonies congregated in nearby known roosts that had been used by radio-tagged bats prior to exclusion. We found no difference in roosting behaviour before and after exclusion. Both the frequency of roost switching and the type of roosts used by bats remained unchanged. We also found no change in foraging behaviour. Bats foraged in the same areas, travelled similar distances to reach foraging areas and showed similar patterns of habitat selection before and after exclusion. Population modelling suggested that any reduction in survival following exclusion could have a negative impact on population growth, whereas a reduction in productivity would have less effect. While the number of soprano pipistrelle exclusions currently licensed each year is likely to have little effect on local populations, the cumulative impacts of licensing the destruction of large numbers of roosts may be of concern.
Are We Bats?: Environmental Legacies of Colonialism
New Literature(s) Review, 2004
While issues of plant and animal conservation have also become important in Europe, it was (and is) in the settler colonies particularly that paradoxes of human/animal accommodation (or lack of it) were and are most starkly realised. The particular example I wish to explore in more detail here concerns the late 1990s 'invasion' of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens by a colony of grey-headed native bats or 'flying foxes'.